I am sorry and apologize for the formatting problems.
SERMON GM14-026
SERIES: The Christian Life Viewed as Sonship
SETTING: North Kelso Baptist Church
SERVICE: Sunday AM
SUBTITLE: The Test of Sonship (Part
6)
SCRIPTURE: 1 John 3:16-18
SUBJ: John illustrates his point
SUMMARY: You must love fellow
believers through activity rather than by words
SCHEME: that Christians love their fellow-believers by exemplifying their love
_____________________________________________________________
CHRISTIAN LIVING IN
A WORLD OF CHAOS
The
Christian Life is Viewed as Son-ship
The Test of
Sonship
1 John 3:16-18
(Part 6)
INTRODUCTION
A.
Genuine Love Makes Costly Sacrifices
Bryan Chapell
tells this story that happened in his hometown:
Two brothers were playing
on the sandbanks by the river. One ran after
another up a large mound of sand. Unfortunately, the mound was not solid, and their weight caused them to sink
in quickly.
When the boys did not return home for dinner, the family and neighbors organized a search. They found the younger brother unconscious, with his head and shoulders sticking out above the sand. When they cleared the sand to his waist, he awakened. The searchers asked, "Where is your brother?"
The child replied, "I’m standing on his shoulders"
With the sacrifice of his own life, the older brother lifted the younger to safety. The tangible and sacrificial love of the older brother literally served as a foundation for the younger brother’s life.
When the boys did not return home for dinner, the family and neighbors organized a search. They found the younger brother unconscious, with his head and shoulders sticking out above the sand. When they cleared the sand to his waist, he awakened. The searchers asked, "Where is your brother?"
The child replied, "I’m standing on his shoulders"
With the sacrifice of his own life, the older brother lifted the younger to safety. The tangible and sacrificial love of the older brother literally served as a foundation for the younger brother’s life.
B. Brotherhood
can be costly in the church family
So it is with us even today. In order
to care for various members in our local
church family, it might cost us very deeply or dearly to for their well-being. There is to be no limit on
what we should share to do in order
to meet the needs of our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.
C. Today’s
Text
Today’s passage outlines for us both
the implication and illustration of our
responsibility and obligation to one another. But before we jump into our text, let’s take a minute and…
REVIEW
2A THE CHRISTIAN LIFE VIEWED AS SONSHIP (2:29-4:6)
Once again we continue in this section of scripture that
demonstrates that the Christian life
is viewed as a life of Sonship. It is a life whereby
we are the children of God.
Like the first section that demonstrated that the Christian life is viewed as fellowship. In order to prove
his point, John maintains that issues a
series of tests to prove one’s claim.
The first test was that Sonship, or
being a child of God demanded the practice
of righteousness. John made it clear that a genuine child of God habitually or consistently makes it a
practice to do works that are both
motivated by and in-line with the divine nature that was imparted to the believer at the moment of salvation.
We have come to John’s second test of
Sonship. In this section, John makes
it clear that…
2B Sonship Demands
the practice of love (2:29-3:10a)
John makes a transition from
righteousness to love. For John these two ideas are related. You could
almost say that these two
ideas might be saying the
same thing.
Last week we saw John’s heart
when we looked at…
1C The
Exhortation to practice love (3:10b-15)
It was crucial that John would exhort his readers to
practice love for one another. Loving
one another proved that
one was a Christian. Loving one another proved the claim of being a child of God.
We said that there
were at least three ways that John believed would prove one’s claim of
being a Christian.
1D …by
revealing your character (10)
“…by this it is evident who are the children of God…and
who are the children of the devil.”
2D …by
remembering your command (11-13)
“For this is the “command or order” that you have
heard from the beginning that we should love
one another.”
3D …by
ratifying our conversion (14-15)
“We know that we have passed out of death into life,
because we love the brothers”
So,
as children of God we are exhorted or encouraged to love our fellow believers
because it proves that we are indeed true children of God.
Now
we are free to look at our…
TRUTH FOR TODAY
Our theme continues to be: Genuine believers love fellow believers
Once
again, this is a good reminder for all of us that the test of Sonship demands
the practice of love for our fellow believers which proves our salvation to be
genuine.
Proposition: Jesus
Christ is the supreme example of genuine love
Interrogative Sentence: So, how does the love of
Jesus Christ provide you with an example of genuine love?
Transitional Sentence: In our text, John supplies
four (4) arguments demonstrates or reveals Christ to be the ultimate example of
genuine love.
[Let’s
begin by looking at…]
2C The Exemplification of the practice of love (16-18)
John MacArthur wrote, ““The cross is
proof of both the immense
love of God and the profound wickedness of sin.”
John has very explicitly stated the test of love.
Now John establishes a test to
distinguish between genuine love and
counterfeit love.
Love can be a very
subjective and therefore difficult to identify. Since love is a
test that gives evidence of eternal life
it is important that we know how to identify genuine love.
Love can be
confused with sentiment. It can be thought of something that is
verbalized, especially in pretty poems and songs.
In verses 16-18
John deals with the problem of identifying genuine love. To do so us
John does this by giving us a tremendous example.
Genuine love can be
seen in a visible example.
Genuine
love…
1D is
seen in its personification (16a)
en toutw
egnwkamen tnv agapnn, oti ekeinos
uper
hmwn thn yucn autou efhke
“By this we know love, that
he laid down his life for us…”
“But God
shows his love for us, in that while were still sinners, Christ
died for us…”
How
can genuine love be recognized? Again, this is a very crucial
test since John sets up love as a test of the genuineness of
your salvation.
True love
was shown by God so that we sinners could learn to
enjoy God’s love and to enjoy and experience its lasting
effects on their lives.
If there
were ever to be a question about what real love is or what
John expected from his readers, all they had to do was to look at
the example of Jesus and they would know. IOW, they could
say:
Oh, that
is love!
To
sacrifice myself or my goods for the benefit of another
believer - now I know what love is.
With this
example there would be no need for any further definition
or explanation.
First of
all, the pronoun “this” is used in what Greek scholars call the
instrumental case.
John uses
it to look forward to the clause “that He laid down his life for us.”
John
reminds his readers of the supreme example of love which was
His self-sacrifice on the cross.
There are
no limits of sacrifice that we are to make for one another. Genuine love
motivated by God’s love within us will not stop at any
place and say, well
that is enough. I went as far as I
should.
What is important to note right here is that
Jesus did not simply have
“feelings” in His heart.
Nor did he
declare or speak words of endearment to us as sinners.
He
expressed his love in self-sacrificing action
“He
laid down his life for us… (16)
Genuine
love is active love.
“But
God shows his love for us, in that while were still sinners, Christ
died for us…”
God did not just say I love
you or feel warm and fuzzy feelings
toward us, John said God did something to prove,
demonstrated, or show the love
that He had for us – He gave Christ as a sacrifice
to die in our place.
So,
we see that and we know this, but now and then we need reminded of it, love is
a verb, it is an action and must be expressed in action.
But,
in realizing this and seeing it as it relates to God, John shows us that it
relates to you and me also.
Our theme continues to be: Genuine believers love fellow believers
Once
again, this is a good reminder for all of us that the test of Sonship demands
the practice of love for our fellow believers which proves our salvation to be
genuine.
As
we continue to work our way through our text, John makes a second argument that
demonstrates or reveals Christ to be the ultimate example of genuine love.
This
second argument …
2D …is
seen in its implication (16b)
“…and we ought to lay down our life for the brothers.”
Faith
is a living and unshakable confidence. A belief
in God so assured that a man would die a thousand
deaths for its sake. — Martin Luther
John
is telling his readers you can know for a fact without question
what genuine love is. It is an act of sacrifice that one makes
on behalf of another.
Then John
illustrates his point by using Jesus.
Now that
his readers have no doubt as to the type of love that John
expects them to have as genuine believers, he gives an
example of how they can practice this type or kind of love.
If the
situation ever presents itself, we are to give our life, we are to
sacrifice our life for a fellow believer.
Here is
our example and John applies it to all true followers and
children of God. This is action a moral obligation placed upon all true
children of God
by John.
This
obligation shouldn’t be a surprise:
·
The NT teaches that believers are to become like Christ and made into
His image. Paul declares that this is God’s purpose that believes are to become
conformed to the image of His Son. (Romans 8:29)
·
Jesus commanded His disciples to love as He loved (John
13:34-35; 15:12)
·
Only when love is actually put into action does love become complete or
genuine
So,
our love for our fellow believers is to parallel the love that Jesus had for
us. So there is no limit as to what we would do for fellow believers.
This
could be anything from sharing a loaf of bread to actually sacrificing your
life. By the way, the tense of our verb depicts a voluntary and intentional action. We don’t accidently
sacrifice our goods or our lives, but if need be we do so willingly and
intentionally.
Our theme continues to be: Genuine believers love fellow believers
Once
again, this is a good reminder for all of us that the test of Sonship demands
the practice of love for our fellow believers which proves our salvation to be
genuine.
John
knows this is extreme and so he also gives another practical illustration of
the type of love that he is talking about.
So, we come to the third argument which demonstrates
or reveals Christ to be the ultimate example of genuine love.
[This
argument…]
3D …is
seen in its demonstration (17)
“But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother
in need…”
Paul said in Philippians
2:4, “Look not every man on his own things, but every man also
on the things of others.”
This is a very simple test
yet it reveals whether we are on the road to
salvation or whether we are still under condemnation.
The
“world’s goods” is actually life. John is actually talking
about that which sustains us, keeps us alive. That which pertains to
living.
The word
that John uses is a very rare word in the NT. The regular
word for life, zwh is used at least 100 times in the NT.
This
little phrase can mean almost anything.
Continuing
with John’s demonstration of love as an action, and not
merely as a word or sentiment, John says if you have that
which pertains to living and you see your brother in need and
you don’t give
that to him, then how can you really say that God
and His love resides in you?
If we are
unwilling to share a portion of our goods, or those things that are
associated with living with those whom we know and are associated
with then we
don’t have the love of God living in us.
There
are at least three things that we should clearly see in verse 17:
·
Material possessions are
meant to be shared and not hoarded. We have a tendency to collect possessions and hang
on to them for our own personal use. But God gives us possessions many times
for the sole purpose of helping someone else. We need to be aware of our fellow
believes around us in order to be able to help them with the goods or
possessions – the things that pertain to living.
·
We must be close enough to
our brothers/sisters to see any needs. The second thing to see is observing a brothers
need – “…and sees his brother in need…”
This not a glance at someone and going on about our business. It
is a continuing observation. If we are aware of a particular need over a period
of time and we don’t share what we have to meet that need how can we call
ourselves a Christian is what John is saying.
So if we see a brother in a particular
need for a long period of time, shame
on us, we should meet that need.
·
Our response is the key
issue at hand here. Because the third thing we see here in verse 17 deals with our
response. John says…
“…yet closes his heart against him…”
John uses a word that we can understand, “to
close a door, more so the idea of
“slamming a door shut.” We all know how to do that don’t we?
My ESV says closes his heart, and your
KJV says “shutteth up his bowels
and then in italics it adds “of
compassion.”
The Greek word is literally translated as “bowels.” The Greek Word describes the upper internal organs like
the heart, lungs, and the liver.
This region came to be thought of by
the Greeks as the “seat of emotions.”
The place where emotions are felt, especially emotions life love or fear.
The word came to be used figuratively
to describe the seat of emotions
like love, mercy or compassion.
So John says, “…how does God’s love abide in
him?”
John implies that true love proves
itself by action.
John’s point is this, if acts of
sacrificial love are not present in our lives,
then it is really unreasonable for
someone to claim that they are indwelt
by God and His love.
John
is simply saying, that if you don’t help your brothers who are in need and if
you do continually slam the door on loving and helping them, then you are
actually contradicting your claim of being a Christian. God’s love cannot live
in that kind of heart or environment.
Our theme continues to be: Genuine believers love fellow believers
Once
again, this is a good reminder for all of us that the test of Sonship demands
the practice of love for our fellow believers which proves our salvation to be
genuine.
The
fourth (4) argument demonstrates or reveals Christ to be the ultimate example
of genuine love. And this
argument…
4D …is
seen in its application (18)
teknia mh agapwmen logw mhde tn glwssn alla en eggw
kai alnqeia
John
says…
“My little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.”
During the 17th century, Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of England, sentenced a soldier to be
shot for his crimes. The execution was to take place at the
ringing of the evening curfew bell.
However, the bell did not sound. The soldier's fiancé had climbed into the belfry and clung to
the great clapper of the bell to prevent it from striking. When she was
summoned by Cromwell to
account for her actions, she wept as she showed him her bruised
and bleeding hands. Cromwell's heart was touched and he said, "Your fiancé shall live
because of your sacrifice. Curfew shall
not ring tonight!"
It seems John uses the term
little children to remind them and ultimately to remind us of the
spiritual family that we all
belong to. And it reminds them and us of the source of our spiritual life – it is from God!
John is making his
appeal on the grounds of the common spiritual nature that these
readers shared. They were all brothers and sisters in Christ.
John appeals to
them as their spiritual Father gently and lovingly begging them to give
the appropriate response to the love that was planted in their heart
when they were born
into the family of God.
John is calling for
love to be expressed in actual deeds rather than just some superficial
verbiage of “I love you.”
John’s grammar
seems to indicate that the most common expression of love is just
that, talk. To John talk is just simply hypocritical and unacceptable,
John wants to see some action.
Lehman Straus
reminds us, “Kind and comforting words are not condemned in verse 18. We need
to speak with soft
and sympathetic words, but such words should be accompanied by helpful and
heart-warming deeds.”
So,
we should not only speak words of love but we should back them up with specific
deeds.
Our theme is: “Genuine believers love fellow believers”
This
is a good reminder for us all that the Test of Sonship demands the practice of
love for fellow believers which proves our salvation to be genuine. The
practice of love is visible and costly.
But for now, what do you say
we wrap this up?
I conclude with these facts which
graphically illustrate John’s point…
CONCLUSION
Fifty-six
men signed the Declaration of Independence. Their conviction resulted in untold
sufferings for themselves and their families:
·
Of
the 56 men, 5 were captured by the British & tortured before they died:
·
12
had their homes ransacked and burned.
·
2
lost their sons in the Revolutionary Army.
·
Another
had two sons captured by the enemy.
·
9 of
the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the war.
·
Carter
Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships sunk by the
British navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts and he died in
poverty.
·
At
the battle of Yorktown, the British General Cornwallis had taken over Thomas Nelson's
home for his headquarters. Nelson simply ordered General George Washington to
open fire on his own home. His home was destroyed and later Nelson died
bankrupt.
·
John
Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their thirteen children
fled for their lives. His fields and mill were destroyed. over a year, he lived
in forest and caves, returning home only to find his wife dead and his children
gone. He died from exhaustion.
The men who
decided to create a free nation and sign the declaration of independence didn’t
just talk, they gave their goods, money, health, family, homes, and even their
lives for the good of their fellow countrymen. We cannot do any less than what
Christ did for our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ in the church. [Therefore…]
Exhortation: I
exhort you to love with no limits your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ,
be willing to give any and all of your earthly goods for their well-being
including your own life if necessary for this makes sure your claim of being a
Son or child of God.
John wrote in John 13:34 (ESV)
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love
one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. (ESV)
Let’s
pray! J
No comments:
Post a Comment